360 Virtual Tour: How to Take Photos Using Your Phone
BlogSeptember 7, 2020

360 Virtual Tour: How to Take Photos Using Your Phone

In the past, technology made it hard embedding panoramas. Learn how to take them and master shooting panoramic images. After all, your audience will surely appreciate a 360 virtual tour before the initial visit. You can now have one of the most efficient solutions with Virtual Tour Easy.

Ready for a single standing position yet?

360 virtual tour

360 Virtual Tour Made Easy

While 2D photos are standard online, you can always level up your game. One of the coolest ways to showcase homes in real estate is by taking panoramic photos. Share the indoor views of your home listings by creating perfect imagery using your smartphone camera. With smartphones getting more affordable by the minute there is no excuse in taking a virtual advantage.

Guide in Making a Virtual Tour

Follow this step-by-step guide in creating a tour virtually using your phone.

The 360 Virtual Tour Camera

First, most platforms are compatible with apps or software like VTE. You can also use your Android camera’s photosphere mode. Similarly, Samsung phone users can use Surround Shot mode.

Showcasing the Feat

Then, choose a position where you think you can get the best view to showcase a part of the house. Stock Android cameras can work like other apps, too. You just tap the large orange icon and select ‘camera’. You will be guided through the process as long as you stay in your position. Your phone will automatically snap images when in position and you won’t need to press the shutter button on the screen.

In Stationary Position

Also, remember to hold your phone close to your body as you move around vertically. Follow the circle and dot that appears until both align. At the bottom, you will also see another circle tracking your panorama shot progress as you move it around from your stationary position.

360 virtual tour

Your phone will stitch the images together for an amazing 360 virtual tour.

It’s a Sphere

The initial vertical circle movement in the circle prompt is around your eye level. And since a 360-degree image means a sphere, you need to aim your camera up after finishing at the middle part of the scene. While moving your camera up toward the sky, move it in a circle twice. It will detect the parts that are not yet recorded. You should keep pointing your phone up and around until you fill the gaps.

Then, you can proceed aiming at the ground doing the same thing as you did earlier.

Location Services

If your app is using location services like most, you can grant the app with that privilege while using it. You can decide to upload using a Wi-Fi or your data plan in posting your photos.

Don’t lose your focus, the goal is to showcase great feats of your home listings. Make your panorama image as authentic as possible and avoid falsifying the look. Now, with an internet connection in place, you can post them anytime. Virtual Tour Easy works with all 360 cameras.

360 virtual tour

So, take a picture and create your online tour: a level higher than most. Just upload, link them together and save it, all in just 5 mins. Then, you can go and share them on your emails, website, messenger app, and social networks.

Conclusion

Make sure to choose a software that is not only easy to use but saves time, too. Choose a software with a powerful interactive feature you can customize with a unique link you can easily embed on your website. It is important that an overall solution allows you to see insights. Know about the shares, views, and the usage to decide which is good for your campaign. With the technology we have today, a 360 virtual tour is one tap away!

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Take a Sneak Peek in Cambodia's Real Estate 360 Virtual Tour
BlogFebruary 10, 2020

Take a Sneak Peek in Cambodia’s Real Estate 360 Virtual Tour

360 Virtual Tour: Invading Real Estate Industry

Are you having a hard time viewing a property miles away? Maybe not having enough time due to a fully-packed schedule? There could be thousands of reasons why an attempt to view a home listing becomes impossible. Then, the 360 Virtual Tour happened. While there are already several realtors adapting the new ways to promote properties, people are yet to understand what to expect from it.

One of the countries embracing the new tour option is the Kingdom of Cambodia. 360 virtual tour is an innovative way prepared to present homes the features of the property online. The panoramic image allows clients to appreciate a 360 degrees perspective of a given property. Homebuyers don’t need to be physically present when they don’t need to be, especially, for initial viewing. It’s a good way to save the realtor’s and homebuyer’s time, effort, and money. The tour also enables them to filter only the properties that meet their requirements.

What Benefits to Expect from 360 Virtual Tour

Homebuyers have their preferences on which houses meet their expectations. They can be generic and choose a feat that contributes to a certain look or ambiance. They can also be specific requirements due to their nature of work or habits. What realtors should realize is the potential of bridging their needs to what you can offer.

Photos are great but taking a leap and embracing something new means an opportunity in taking your business to the next level. Images leave homebuyers puzzled about where we can find certain sections and parts of a home. The virtual technology lets people experience an interactive tour.

360 Virtual Tour Convenience

Real estate agents generate more buyers by providing valuable service to homebuyers. Imagine the remote experience, bringing a modern touch to a classic business. The 360 virtual tour brings even more value to clients abroad looking for a convenient way of purchasing a home in Cambodia. Just like any other showroom, homebuyers can virtually move through the rooms at their own pace with a 360 perspective of the property.

Developers and homebuyers know that the real estate market in Cambodia is rising fast. New condos and commercial buildings are picking up, easing in the progress of the economy. We’ve accepted the competition rising, leaving outstanding agents to find ways to stand out! Step up and take the challenge to render a 360 virtual tour every homebuyer is eager to experience.

The Visuals Matter Inside and Out

Marketing properties that technically don’t exist yet is never easy but made possible by virtual reality. You may have even seen your share of 3D models or miniature of the properties. They are impressive, the landscapes and driveways are visible but what about the interior?

360 virtual tour better than the 3D house models

Real estate agents often create showrooms to showcase the property as full-scale models. It’s a marketing method that requires a costly investment to impress homebuyers.

The Solution

Virtual Tour Easy offers real estate businesses an enhanced way of staging properties with little investment. The 360 virtual tour is a cheaper and immersive marketing strategy to encourage homebuyers to purchase properties that aren’t built yet.

Imagine the number of homebuyers you can accommodate by having a showroom available 24/7. With 360 Virtual Tour, they’ll have a variety of choices on the halls they want to walk and gain access to rooms they want to see.

Conclusion

Traditional home buying is priceless but the world is turning into a fast-paced market. Goods, products, and services sell better online. The innovative virtual technology continues to create wonders by generating leads. Learn more about the 360 Virtual Tour and how you can improve your home listings by signing up for Virtual Tour Easy!

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360 Virtual Tour Mistakes You Must Avoid Right Now!
BlogDecember 16, 2019

360 Virtual Tour Mistakes You Must Avoid Right Now!

As technology continues to evolve, most digital marketers also look for ways to innovate their real estate business strategies. While content is still king, we’ve learned how to innovate it by engaging in different multimedia. We’ve started incorporating images, infographics, GIFs, and videos in our marketing campaigns. Nowadays, we also see how 360 virtual tour seems to boost our views and engagements tremendously.

The experts claim the interactive virtual tour helps them reach out to remote customers all over the world. It also offers convenience as their clients don’t have to go physically to check out the properties. It resulted to increase in real estate sales. Despite its stunning benefits, many realtors claim they still struggle with virtual tours. Why is that? It may be because you’re committing these fatal mistakes!

Learn How to Correct Your 360 Virtual Tour Mistakes here!

Staging Your Home With Little Or Too Much Medium

An empty property space is like a blank canvas. Your buyers want to imagine and immerse what it’s like to live in your proposed property. That’s why you need to capture these anticipating feelings through a 360 virtual tour. However, most realtors tend to declutter their spaces and only add minimal furniture or features virtually. This effectively turns your customers off since they feel the room is barren and empty. Prepare a 360 virtual tour addressing your customer’s needs.

This photo was created with:AMOUS™ ANALOG 01 for Adobe Lightroom. https://amous.co/downloads/analog-pack/
Prepare a 360 virtual tour addressing your customer’s needs.

On the other hand, cluttering your home too much also turns your customers off since they feel the property is too narrow for them to add the amenities they want to incorporate. So how do you solve this problem?

According to real estate experts, you need to find the “Goldilocks” balance in home staging. Instead of putting virtual furniture, decor, and ornaments that are irrelevant to your customers attend to their needs instead. For example, if your customer is a fitness coach, do a 360 virtual tour where an unused room can be converted into a gym or yoga session place.

Dim Lightings In Your Virtual Tour

Most realtors commit the mistake of ignoring lighting thinking the software will do the job of lightening up the virtual tour. While the software can help improve your 360 virtual tour resolution, it may end up being dim or having inconsistencies.

Having dim lighting makes your property look smaller; while inconsistent lighting also creates some jarring experience for the user. You can produce consistent lighting by a combination of sunlight, as well as your home’s cardinal orientation. Having a well-lit house makes your property look inviting and spacious.

Not Making a Self-Guided Interactive 360 Virtual Tour

Just like how the customers have full control once they bought a property, they also want to exercise the same control in a 360 virtual tour. Don’t make the mistake of having pre-programmed virtual tours. Allow your buyers to navigate each room and move around the property how they want.

They should be able to see every angle, approach, and corner of the property. Not only it improves their interactive experience, but they also tend to dwell longer in your 360 virtual tours. Higher and longer virtual tour engagements lead to higher real estate sales.

Not Highlighting Your Property’s Unique Features

While it’s great to highlight every corner and angle of your property, don’t forget to give extra attention to your unique features. For example, you can highlight the master’s bedroom’s terrace which offers an overlooking view of the beach. The peaceful scenery triggers a relaxing ambiance for your customers. You can also highlight infinity pools where they can swim and chill after a long day.

Whatever unique features you have in your property, make sure to highlight it in your 360 virtual tour to entice your customers.

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5 Reasons Why You Don’t Want To Miss A 360 Virtual Tour!
BlogDecember 2, 2019

5 Reasons Why You Don’t Want To Miss A 360 Virtual Tour!

The 360 Virtual Tour

The Real Estate market is an ever-changing industry and the demand increases every year. We make use of virtual reality to promote selling properties. We make it an even more realistic experience by offering a 360 virtual tour.

Promoting properties using a 360 virtual tour is one of the latest trends that realtors developed to get them ahead in the game. Various tools are available for realtors to outwit other competitors and draw attention to their properties.

How does a 360 virtual tour help with a real estate deal?

Fine Way to Display

A 360 virtual tour is a great way to showcase the property you are promoting regardless if it’s commercial or residential.

Here you can highlight the rooms and available spaces in the house that the client can explore and navigate by moving to directions they want to see. Most clients explore the different parts of the house like bedrooms and hallways to get an idea of how the real property must look like in reality. Depending on how many floors, the client can freely select the area that piqued their interest.

You can even find additional details on the screen and get the information you need. In most cases, this information holds the exclusive details available in the house like a piece of antique furniture or a rare collection included in the sale.

No Wasted Effort

Realtors get calls all the time from clients and you are no different. This technological advancement would save both parties from unnecessary hassle. Instead of putting an appointment for a home visit for a property that’s far from your area, a 360 virtual tour allows you to find out if the home meets your requirements without going on-site. This saves you more time and avoids the hassle of scheduling a home visit only to find out the property does not meet your standards

People with busy work schedules will appreciate the convenience of this tour.

Not only easy but Cost-effective

Virtual tours give the impression of being costly and it would take a lot of time to create them. Contrary to that assumption, it is easy to make them and saves time. You can use the internet and follow the instructions to create them.

WordPress, for example, allows you to create a virtual tour with an exclusive WPVR plugin.

Take a single panorama image from every room around the house or property that you want your client to see. Upload that image to the plugin. The WPVR will link those images and viola! Now you have a 360 virtual tour that’s readily available for your clients!

More Reliable

360 virtual tour makes you reliable in presenting parts of the property
360 virtual tour help buyers see an entire room

High-quality real-estate images and visuals help leave give an impression to your clients, which you can take advantage of thanks to this technology. Virtual tours give clients a certain image for them to look forward and help them eliminate unnecessary visits to properties they are less likely to admire. On many occasions, clients are becoming meticulous in purchasing both residential and commercial properties. Single images won’t stand a chance in the industry.

Buyers get more inclined to images they can manipulate to see better. Panoramic images help them get the best visual of the actual home.

A new way to Attract Clients

Many realtors remain unaware of this feature since they lack background on virtual tours which is why this is the perfect time to explore and offer the clients an accessible way to view properties. Technological advancement taught people a convenient way to do almost everything at home, especially ones who are from abroad looking for relocation or seeking inquiries on remote property investment. You’ll surely get an extra boost and generate traffic in promoting your social platforms.

Take the challenge of experiencing it first hand. Expand your horizons and use the latest trends in landing more clients. Real Estate agents and investors will surely benefit from a 360 virtual tour.

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Top Ten Reasons to Produce Virtual Tours as a Residential Agent
BlogNovember 11, 2019

Top Ten Reasons to Produce Virtual Tours as a Residential Agent

A virtual tour is not merely a digital trend to use for any type of business. Most property buyers consider real estate tour a must-have before they decide to inquire about any property. Most buyers also select properties based on online research. There are 10 reasons for real estate agents to use a tour builder in their practice, and these are the following:

1. Secondary Viewing

It’s best to use a virtual tour for every listing. This will serve as a strong sales material that can be sent along with the brochure. It’s not easy for the property buyer to keep on returning to the property to check it. So to save time and energy, buyers can just visit the virtual tour over and over again until they can finally decide to purchase it.

2. Online Rental

The world is more fast-paced than before. A large group of people relocates from one place to another to work or to study. For instance, in London, about 200,000 students move from China to London every year. Most of the time, these students have not been to the UK ever, yet they have to book their rental properties in advance. This is why they are dependent on online means. Virtual tours can facilitate the online process whether it is for renters, investors, sellers, or buyers.

3. Lead Generation

Lead generation is faster with the help of a virtual tour. It is also possible to use artificial intelligence by setting up chatbots for the communication to start right after the buyers’ attention is caught. It’s possible to generate a lead card by the time the virtual tour ends, and it will be sent to the agent directly.

4. Better Service for Customers

It’s always a must to respect customers. The agent has the responsibility to show the buyers what the property has to offer. Being pushy is a sign of disrespect. A virtual tour will enable you to step back and let the virtual tour do the talking. Most buyers are particular about being in control of the decision as regards the property and on the quality of experience they have when checking the property. A virtual tour will be able to provide them all the control and personal space to decide for themselves.

5. Reduce Useless Viewing

Agents have been reporting about 30 to 70 percent decrease in wasted viewings due to the virtual tour. It may not be easy to get quantitative data on the impact of a virtual tour, but it is obvious that applicants will be able to view properties online, visit only those that they are interested in, and be able to close deals faster.

6. Efficient Reporting to Owners for Rental Properties

Virtual tours can be used as part of the inventory report at the end of tenancies. They can provide extra insights which can provide evidence in case of any dispute. Photographic evidence has always been considered supporting collaterals in inventories and dilapidation schedules.

7. Be Able to Win More Listings

Any real estate agency aims to acquire new properties to market. An agent makes it a point to be different from competitors. Any kind of service that will make an agent stand out from the competitors will be able to secure any important listing.

Source: propertybase

8. Be Able to Show the Property to Everyone Important

Buying a property does not entail only one decision-maker. Usually, the buyer needs to ask for the decision of the husband, wife, children, or parents. It will be difficult to bring everyone during the in-person viewing. A virtual tour will allow everyone to view the property without multiple viewing sessions which will save the agent’s time and increase the likelihood of a sale.

9. Innovation

Real estate is not that fast in digital transformation, yet there are certain changes. The best real estate agencies are into each of their technological journeys. A virtual tour software is easy to implement and affordable tech solution. That’s why it’s always beneficial to innovate.

10. Content Marketing

Content has always been king in marketing. Virtual tours can present top-quality, high-level content. The overall value of providing attention-catching and tech-laden content has a great impact on several aspects of the business. A restaurant website that offers a virtual tour of its menu and location may likely have more clients than a site that only offers static images. That in itself is proof of content power.

If you like to know more about creating a virtual tour for your own company, check Virtual Tour Easy for more information.

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A Definitive Guide on Shooting Panoramic Photos for Virtual Tour Creation
BlogJuly 8, 2019

A Definitive Guide on Shooting Panoramic Photos for Virtual Tour Creation

When taking 360-photos of the different areas of a house, it is important for you to stay focused. From the start, you have several aspects to consider. You need to think about double exposure in the case of high lights or what is known as HDR exposure. It is also important for you to tilt or rotate the panoramic head and move the tripod for shooting the nadir.

Tips for Beginners

The following are the major aspects to consider when shooting for a virtual tour:

  • A virtual tour that doesn’t use a tripod or is handheld is not possible. You need to use at least a monopod. Best of all, use a tripod.
  • It is important to set the camera on a panoramic head and on a tripod for ease of use.
  • Remove every trace of the tripod on the photo.
  • Compensate the high lights through a door or a window.

When Shooting the Photos…

It is crucial to decide whether you will use a tripod or not. Almost every photographer uses the circular fisheye on a monopod. This lets the camera stay on the nodal point, particularly in height. Handheld shooting can only be possible for a virtual tour when you only have to take up to three photos to complete the entire sphere. It is better to stick to the entrance pupil or nodal point and to have a mobile solution. It is compulsory to use the tripod when you have to take more photos.

Note: The more complicated the tripod, the more space it will take at the nadir level.

During the preparation, you have to decide on the number of shots to take for rotation and also the number of ranges. You have to tilt or rotate the camera between two shots depending on the angle covered. If the camera used is notch-based, you only have to rotate the camera to the next notch. Without the notch, you can base everything on the viewfinder or the control screen. The viewfinder has its own set of benefits if the camera does not have any built-in cloaking device. An important piece of advice: look around to find out whether the subject can enter the field of the photo.

Ghost in a relinquished building
Photographer: Ferdinand Stöhr | Source: Unsplash

How to Shoot the Nadir With or Without the Tripod

There are several methods to eliminate the tripod. It depends on the nature of the floor level, the panoramic head, and the time you can spend on taking the photo. One method of shooting is one that requires you not to include the floor underneath the tripod. The second method is to take the floor under the tripod and let the tripod disappear in the actual virtual tour.

When you include the floor under the tripod in your shoot, the tripod appears on the photo. There are two methods to remove it: by placing a circular shape in its stead, covering it and by ceasing the downward movement of the mouse until the boundaries of the tripod’s arms. For the first method, it is important to include the copyright and the name of the location.

It is preferable not to include the floor in the photo. But if you still prefer otherwise, it is imperative to show as a little tripod as possible and make sure that the circle will be the smallest possible. These can be done through any of the following means:

  • Shoot with a circular fisheye
  • Shoot with a full-format fisheye and make sure that the vertical field of view makes the circle small
  • Add one more line at its bottom where the boundaries of the tripod’s arms are.
  • On the other hand, shooting the nadir without the tripod can be done following these steps:
  • You have to shoot the raw materials that you will need later.
  • Using photoshop, make sure that two or three photos match; and through the layers’ masks, remove all possible traces of the tripod.

How to Shoot the Raw Material

  • Shoot at 0 degrees.
  • Shoot the zenith photo at 90 degrees.
  • Shoot towards the floor at -90 degrees. This can be done by directing the camera towards the floor right above where the rotary axis is. Be sure that the vertical arm is right above one of the tripod arms.

You will have a photo that is directed towards the floor with a print of the panoramic head and one of the arms of the tripod. This photo will go well with the others because the tripod is not likely to move. You will see that 80 percent of the photo tripod and it is free from the panoramic head. Only a small area of the floor is missing for the sphere to be complete.

It is necessary to shoot a photo of the place again, this time without the tripod. When shooting indoors, it can be complex and quite impossible to use the Photoshop stamp. The only solution to this is to use the same tripod for the panoramic head but tilt the tripod a little towards the floor.

Here are some more tips to consider:

Put a coin marker on the floor under the central column of the tripod before the tripod is moved. This represents the rotary axis of the nodal point of the lens and the camera head. It is also wise to rotate the vertical arm of the panoramic camera head at 180 degrees. Here the camera is already hung on the floor yet still on the tripod and at the same height which makes it stable all the time. Hence it is important to reposition the lenses accurately. All you have to do is to look through the viewfinder or make use of the live view or else position the coin at the center of the viewfinder. For the rest of the preparations and editing of the photos, you only need the raw material of the floor and paste on the old photo of the nadir through the use of Photoshop.

HDR or Double Exposure

This requires only minimal focus. Make sure to create a photo with less exposure time and a second one with exposures of 1.5/2 diaphragms. Make sure that you will not move the tripod or the panoramic head at this point. Exposure will always be in manual mode. Exposure changes must be done through speed change instead of the diaphragm to stay away from stitching problems.

Now you’ll be able to take amazing 360-photos upon following the above-mentioned guidelines. Don’t forget to upload those photos into Virtual Tour Easy and start marketing your real estate properties today!

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Hail the New King of Photography, the 360 Degree Photos!
BlogJanuary 9, 2019

Hail the New King of Photography, the 360 Degree Photos!

It used to be that photos are the king in print media. The photographer has the task to freeze-frame any interesting scene. Commercial photography is considered superior over the rest. But today consumers are looking for the real inside story and no longer wish to see the commercial aspect of this art. They aim for transparency, honesty, and authenticity in all the photos shown. Consumers abhor the airbrushed marketing methods of most brands.

Why Static Images Don’t Work Anymore

Static images are easily ignored online. They often don’t meet the requirements of network connectivity and the use of mobile devices. The consumers’ desire and expectations on brand content and the need for interaction between the company and the consumers also increased due to the prevalence of social media in everyday life. The business world has become more interactive, layered, three-dimensional, and immersive.

The Use of the 360 Degree Photo in Business

A 360-degree photo shoot welcomes consumers to look into the business more from every angle. A lot of businesses around the world make use of 360-degree photography. This type of photograph has already become popular in the physical space such as in the hotel and real estate industries. Retailers have also followed suit as they use this type of photography for promoting their brick and mortar shops. This can also turn online visitors into offline visitors.

The Future of 360 Degree Photo

The use of the 360-degree photography is more than just a trend. It is rich in content and in providing benefits in communication and SEO benefits. According to statistics, 90 percent of consumers begin their search for products, services, and information using Google as the search engine. In many US cities, the 360-degree virtual tour is considered a necessity for any business which is much like having a website for your business. The UK is also starting to follow the US on this. Immersive and highly interactive 360 virtual tours are in.

The Positive Figures of 360 Degree Photo

There are important facts and figures that entrepreneurs have to be aware when it comes to the use of 360-degree photos and virtual tours. Real estate listings get to be viewed 87 percent more than just viewing still photos. According to Property Week, useless property viewings are cut back by 40 percent which means a lot of time saved for both the agents and buyers. The Carlson Hotel group, on the other hand, revealed that virtual tours increased the bookings by 46 percent more compared to just using websites with static images.

Find out more about how to leverage 360 virtual tour for business. Sign up to Virtual Tour Easy Today for FREE!

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